Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-01-27
Feeding For Growth or Fat.
PhiladelI hia Record.

~ hu AictciN.
Simply feeding an animal without some
definite object in view is to waste the food
or else deprive the animal of something II
NAV require unless the farmer knows the
ouality of the food given and the nutri-
i've value of the ingredients of which 1t
is composed. SO import is knowledge
of the proper mode of feeding that 1T is
often possible to produce more perfect
animal from grade than from thor
oughbred, and Darwin expresses the
opinion that the quality of the food in
guences variation in animals, and that
when improvement is attempted by judi
cioas breeding the result is large
dly influenced by the mode and
h periods of feeding, as also by the
8duality and kinds of food used.
A normal condition cannot be sustained
in an animal except by mixed diet. No
single article of food used for domestic
animals can be regarded as complete or
containing the proper proportions of the
\ necessary elements of growth and warmth.
&Certain foods, rich in nitrogen, are re-
&quired for producing flesh. These foods
arc kncyn as ''fesh formers" and are de-
rived from the gluten of grains, the legu-
Amen of clover, and from the different
Sforms of nitrogen in all the plants used
as food, being transformed in the body
of the animal into flesh and to supply
1 the natural waste of the muscles and car
Itilages, the surplus being impaired to the
products of the animal, as case IN mix
| or albumen in eggs FROM birds.
A proper division and classification OF
/ the foods enables the farmer to appropri-
ate the elements particularly adapted for
the accomplishment of the production of
flesh, milk, butter, or fat, for while the
|organic matter Astounding in nitrogen Is
more suitable for hesh-forming, that por-
|tion free from nitrogen, known as carbo-
|hydrates, contains starch, sugar and fatty
Tolls, in order to supply the fatty matter,
while the earthly phosphates repair and
renew the bones.
As the constituents of an animals body
must come from the food, it is not best
TO feed the starchy substances to young
animals exclusively, when growth Is de-
|sired, which explains the cause of lack
|of thrift when straw or coarse hay Is
fused, az the animal cannot eat enough of
such substances in order to supply itself.
Nor can we expect the best results from
such grains as corn, which con
tains a large proportion of starch
land oil, with a small amount of flesh
forming material, but when corn is
combined with clover hay the elements
are more evenly divided; yet even in the
coordination of the two foods time would
show that some element might be lack
ing, and change of food would be ne
cessary.
1t is more economical to feed variety,
sspec ally to growing stock, which de-
mand more nitrogen and the phosphates
than do those more matured, the first
must not only renew waste but add to the
flesh end bone, while the adult is required
only to renew waste. An adult animal
therefore voids the excess of heterogeneous
material, and as a consequence the ma
nure from mature animal Is more valu-
able than that from one which has not
completed growth. An adult animal also
fattens at less cost; therefore, as but
a small proportion of nitrogen is required,
the mode of feeding depends upon the
age, and the objects desired 70 be OBJ
tanned.